REAL SOLDIERS, REAL STORIES
Read the stories below for news on Soldiers' Stories.
Stereotyping can paint a different picture than reality, and what people hear about Army basic training is no exception.
With a family history deeply rooted in military service, and a love for playing on tanks, Capt. David Rittenhouse knew where his future laid - the U.S. Army.
As a young boy, Daniel McAllister watched Army football games at West Point with his family-his father was in the military-and it profoundly affected him.
When Lt. Heather Cupitt was a small child she had a dream of being a pilot.
For years Hollywood has presented Army drill sergeants as gruff, in-your-face, yelling, and spitting Mad Max machines. And perhaps once-upon-a-time its stories portrayed an image that was partly deserved.
She said she didn't have goals, discipline or ambition, and "nobody could make me do anything." But that all changed when Sgt. Ginny Weaver, who is originally from Queens, N.Y., stopped by an Army recruiter's office.
Most people hope that at some point in their lives they can make "history" in some small way.
It has been said that when we are young the little things we experience are the things that shape our lives.
It wasn't "Golden Eye" or "Stripes" but the film industry visited Fort Knox again—this time to film some of the Army's 2009 recruiting commercials.
As children we all have dreams of what we want to be when we grow up. For some of us it is a doctor, a dancer, a fireman, a soldier or an athlete.
Once upon a time, when a soldier in the Army wanted to get married there was a good chance he would hear someone say, "If the Army had wanted you to have a wife, it would have issued you one."
Spec. Mark Conde knows U.S. history. He is familiar with U.S. geography and studied civics lessons right alongside other high school students in his home town of Butler, Pa.
Sometimes the thing we want to do the least is the thing we end up loving the most.
As an Army Staff Sgt., Steven Kambouris had larger ambitions for his military career. He wanted to make more of a difference and lead soldiers at a different level. So he recently applied for, was accepted, and successfully completed Warrant Officer Candidate School.
Although recovering from a hip injury that has slowed her down but certainly not stopped her, Sgt. Jennifer Person, who is stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., with the Military Police detachment, said she wouldn't trade a mediocre day in the motor pool for a bad day as an MP—for almost anything.
While many people prepared to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays 2007, a group of soldiers tasked with a different type of mission deployed for something other than a holiday celebration.
He said he is a career soldier who saw himself as a "knucklehead" who needed a kick in the pants.
What do minor league football and the U.S. Army have in common?
If she was dressed in flip-flops, tank top and skirt, hair down, strolling through the mall you might think she was any young adult starting college.
When Sgt. First Class Andy Hardy enlisted in the U.S. Army he said he did it because he wanted to, "change the way Americans are perceived around the world. And I wanted a better life for myself and to start a family with a good foundation."
They came to this class from places like Oklahoma, New York, and Texas and had names like Cecil, Salcido, James, Kaio, and Khazem. They were all at Fort Campbell the week of Sept. 17 prior to deployment to learn what they could about their mission and about what they might encounter while overseas.
The Keillor boys grew up in south Texas, where their parents still live. They eventually all joined the military, but because their military careers have pulled them in different directions, they haven't seen each other for Thanksgiving since 1992.
The 590th Transportation Detachment, a U.S. Army Reserve unit from Charleston, S.C., is no stranger to deployments. But its new commander is.
As the motor pool sergeant for Fort Knox's Company E, 8th Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Bates has been doing exactly what he signed up for when he joined the Army. He works with vehicles.
When 1st Sgt. Garry Galloway, with Fort Knox's M Troop, 3rd Battalion, 16th Cavalry Regiment, left home at 17 to join the Army, he said it was with the idea that he would expand his horizons.
